Reviews of

The Russian Concubine

Glamour : This highly accomplished, sweeping epic is a perfect winter read … Escapism at its best, this novel brilliantly captures the sights, sounds and atmosphere of early 20th-century Russian and China.

New Woman : An achingly beautiful epic.

The Daily Telegraph : A rollicking good read, with a fast-moving plot and oodles of colourful characters and evocative locations. The best thing about it, however, is Lydia … a heroine one hopes to meet for more adventures in the future.

Marie Claire : A novel that is breathtakingly good.

The Bookseller : This is my pick of the month. An epic romantic adventure, relentlessly paced with a fabulous cast of characters. Wonderfully atmospheric.

Publishers Weekly : Furnivall vividly evokes Lydia's character and personal struggles against a backdrop of depravity and corruption.

Historical Novels Review : Editors Choice : This stunning novel bring the atmosphere of 1920s China vividly to life. Furnivall draws an excellent portrait of this distant time and place.

Desert Living : It's Dr Zhivago meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in this intense and readable novel … packed with international intrigue and domestic betrayal.

RT Bookreviews : Fascinating historical events. The strong characters, a wonderful heroine and a colourful backdrop will intrigue.

Minneapolis Star Tribune : An admirable work of historical fiction … compellingly transports us back to 1928 and northern China.

Library Journal : Furnivall's characters are engaging and her pacing quick … in this entertaining story.

Herald Express : The excitement rarely falters from start to finish … a splendid read.

Sainsbury's Magazine : Atmospheric and gripping.

Articles

TimeOut London: How I Write by Kate Furnivall 12 Dec 2007

Not sleeping. That's the first sign. I know then it's time to start the book. The words are wanting to come out. Yet words are like the British weather. Unpredictable. Elusive. Sunshine one moment, rain-clouds the next. You never know what's coming. That's the joy of writing for me, but also the agony.

I write historical novels. That means vast amounts of research. Research involves reading books all day for months on end, making hundreds of pages of notes and telling people it's work - when really it's bliss. I could do it forever.

But then the insomnia starts and I can't kid myself any longer. I write a skeleton outline of the plot but barely stick to it. For me it's important to fall in love with my characters, even the 'bad' ones, to know what they had for breakfast or what joke they last laughed at. I need that intimacy. I hate it when a character rebuffs all my advances and won't open up. I take offence and blame them rather than myself.

My book, The Russian Concubine (Sphere), was inspired by my mother's childhood as a fleeing White Russian after the communist revolution in 1917. I wrote it with no deadline at a leisurely pace, enjoying finding the right words in my own time. It took me a year plus 9 months research. But now contract deadlines loom, imposing stresses that sometimes freeze my pen. Then when I least expect it, some pressure mechanism kicks in and it races ahead, adrenaline pumping. That feels good.

I do much of my best writing in bed. Not that I'm bone-idle, but all the stuff that has been churning in my head overnight can transfer to the page without being deflected by dishwashers and catfood. I leave all that domestic detail till the afternoon. I start around 7.30am and work intensively for an hour or more until the words are flowing on to the page, then I resume in my study. That's where danger lies. So many distractions. Discipline is the name of the game - not that writing for a living could ever be called a game!

I write by hand on to unlined A4 paper. It's an important part of the creative process for me to use pen and paper. The words have to flow like life-blood on to the page. I type up and edit in the evenings - an activity I loathe. I'm just investing in some dictation software to make the keyboard work redundant, but already I recognise this could be a mistake. Maybe it will cause unexpected upheavals. Make the words even more unpredictable. Like global warming and British weather.

 

Little,Brown Newsletter January 2008
My New Year Resolutions by Kate Furnivall

New Year resolutions? Humbug!

We all know they're as pointless as Rudolph's antlers. (Reindeer shed their antlers by Christmas.) But it's the time of year when resolution fever hits. After indulging ourselves frantically throughout December, suddenly we resolve to change ourselves and impose the deadline of January 1st.
Very likely!
So this year before settling on any resolutions, I sat down and made a list of the 'pro's and 'con's of this weird winter ritual:

PRO
1) As I slouch with a Baileys in one hand and a Thorntons chocolate Santa in the other, I can feel guilt-free, content in the certain knowledge that I shall start the diet on Jan 1st.
2) Just the word 'New' - as in New Year resolution - gets me energised, makes me want to DO things. Wipe the slate clean. Make a fresh start.
3) For even a day or two I shall enjoy that giddy feeling of being on the Moral High Ground.
4) I am warmed by the belief that not only will the New Year be better, but that I will be better too.

CON
1) They're a stupid waste of time because no one sticks to them.
2) They're a stupid waste of time because no one sticks to them.
3) They're a stupid waste of time because no one sticks to them.
4) They're a really stupid waste of time because absolutely no one sticks to them.

Okay, so are they a waste of time? Of course not. They are part of the extraordinary optimism that is hard-wired into the human psyche, the triumph of hope over experience. And I love that. We can - and we will - improve ourselves, even if we need the January 1st ritual to make it happen. It's the deadline factor. A bit like writing really.

Writers will wait until a deadline is about to loom on the horizon and then start to panic. Don't get me wrong. Having a deadline is a wonderful thing. It means that a publisher or editor is ready and eager to read your latest work. The problem comes from the fact that, to start with anyway, deadlines are a long way off. Until one day, you find that time has done its usual disappearing act, and you still have 20,000 words to write and only a morning to write them in.

So this coming year I shall resolve to get ahead with my writing. I will really stick to my word-count target each week and then I'll complete my manuscript early. Time to sit and enjoy the garden. To visit friends and family. To relax. Only that's not going to happen, is it? Like everybody else, I will fall off that moral high ground. As nights grow shorter and days grow warmer, other activities will tempt me away from my desk. For even writers are human.

Over the years I've made lots of resolutions - to give up my sudoku addiction or to trim my cat's claws more often (you should see my sofa!). At the time they all seemed achievable. But now I think we should try making resolutions at a different time of year. After all, it's very easy to think about giving up cakes or chocolate or alcohol when you've spent the last ten days doing nothing but eat and drink and be merry.

So that's my resolution for 2008 - I'm not going to make any until the end of June (by which time I'll probably decide to leave it until Christmas, like everybody else).